


Don't Want to Fall for You

by agoodpersonrose



Series: Nice To Meet You [7]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Boss Women, First Kiss, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute, One Shot, Tree Climbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24665011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agoodpersonrose/pseuds/agoodpersonrose
Summary: David gives in to going tree climbing with Stevie and his sister as an exercise in becoming young boss women.
Relationships: Alexis Rose & David Rose, Patrick Brewer/David Rose, Stevie Budd & David Rose
Series: Nice To Meet You [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768825
Comments: 14
Kudos: 178





	Don't Want to Fall for You

**Author's Note:**

> This is the seventh work in a series of Meet-Cutes I'm writing this month. Everything is the same except that David and Patrick didn't meet at Ray's for various different reasons.

David isn’t scared of heights.

It’s just, he doesn’t love the idea of being twenty feet up in the air on wobbling logs with only a metal hoop keeping him from imminent destruction.

But he’s not scared of heights.

Alexis had roped him and Stevie into a tree-walk on a Friday afternoon before the store opened because they are all becoming ‘young boss women’, (David isn’t sure whether to be offended when she applied that phrase to him, but it seemed complimentary). The whole idea is to push them outside of their comfort zones and show them that they can trust their own abilities when it comes to their businesses.

She had found the suggestion on Oprah’s website, and that is the only thing that is keeping David involved right now.

So, here he is, 2 o’clock on a Friday afternoon when he should be setting up his store ready for the grand opening. Instead, he is wearing a blue helmet which is no doubt ruining his hair and apparently makes him look like an acorn-person.

Which is just great honestly.

“Stop fussing, David. There is literally no way to look good in these.” Stevie says after he tries to re-arrange his harness for the third time.

“You wouldn’t know, would you, since you clearly haven’t tried.” He pulls at the straps on his chest again, “I think this is too tight, it’s suffocating my chest and it’s gonna cut off my air supply as soon as we get up there.”

“That’s not gonna happen, come here.” Stevie says, turning him around and sorting the straps on his back. “Hmm, that doesn’t look right.” She mutters, just loud enough for him to hear.

He jumps and reaches round to try and feel the straps as Stevie laughs at him. “Ugh, that is not fair, you know I never wanted to do this!”

“I’m sorry, and you think I did?”

“Well, it gave you an afternoon away from my Dad and the motel, didn’t it?” David asks, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, and instead of finishing the cleaning this afternoon like I intended, I’ll be spending the weekend scrubbing toilets and re-making beds.”

“So, what are we doing here, then?” David asks.

Stevie nods towards where Alexis is currently flirting with one of the instructors who had helped them but the harnesses on. He seems to be enjoying it but is also very distracted, which doesn’t fill David with confidence about the tree-walk they are literally about to do.

“David!” Alexis yells, “David! Let’s go!”

Stevie and David both groan as they follow Alexis to the start of the tree climb. It’s gonna be a long afternoon.

***

It turns out that the tree climbing isn’t as difficult as he thought it might be. Once he has walked across the first three swinging bridges with relative ease, David feels a little more confident in picking up speed. He generally takes the paths last; Alexis is far too energetic, so she goes first, and Stevie is clearly nervous about getting left behind so she’s in the middle.

He’s actually enjoying himself a little. It’s good to get out of the store for the day and try something new, and he is even kind of enjoying spending time with Stevie and Alexis who are a fun mix of judgemental and encouraging as David crosses each obstacle.

However, the false sense of security doesn’t last for long, as the first few bridges are clearly introductions. They come across a pulleey- they have to stand on a small wooden platform which is attached to wheels resting on two metal wires and pull themselves along by a small rope.

Even Alexis struggles with it for a while as she tries to catch her balance, but she gets across quickly and lets the board slide back to the other side, standing to watch the other two make their attempts.

It turns out they haven’t been going as fast as David had thought, and he can hear the sounds of the next group gaining speed behind him, so he’s eager to get across quickly. But Stevie has decided to sit down on the board and it’s proving a difficult angle to gain any traction.

David watches, partly amused by how ridiculous she looks, partly annoyed at the fact that she is still basically within reaching distance.

He peeks his head over his shoulder to see Ray Butani of all people clambering about on the last bridge and makes a rash decision.

“Stevie!” He says, “I’m gonna do it with you.”

The rules are that no more than two people on an obstacle at a time, so David assumes this is fine, and Stevie nods thankfully as he climbs onto the board behind her and takes over pulling them both along.

It works far better than the previous method, but assumedly looks twice as stupid, as Alexis cackles and pulls out her phone to take a video of them.

“That’s a fun method, Patrick! Maybe we should try it out?” David can hear Ray say loudly from behind him, and silently breathes a sigh of relief at escaping the platform before he had arrived.

“ _Oh_ , I don’t know Ray. I just don’t think we’ll be able to do it this elegantly.”

David turns around to look at the stranger speaking, and catches brown, teasing eyes watching his progress. The distraction means he momentarily slides backwards a bit but soon enough he has refocused his attention on the course, and they reach the other side safely.

“That was so cute you guys.” Alexis says when they clamber on next to her. “You looked just like you were in the Titanic or something. It was like, so romantic.”

Both Stevie and David pull identical disgusted faces at that, and Stevie quickly unhooks each of her safety clips, re-hooking them straight onto the next obstacle ahead of Alexis’ to take her place at the front.

“I’m going first for the next one.” She says, looking at the rope ladder with trepidation. They have to climb it up and across to reach the next platform a couple of feet above where they are stood now.

David winces, and turns his back on it for a moment to look away. In doing so, he catches eyes with the guy from earlier who is pulling himself along the skate-board obstacle, his muscles tensing with each tug. It’s extremely attractive, and David has to tear his eyes away as Alexis follows Stevie up the ropes.

“Hi.” The guy says, as he climbs onto the platform next to David and turns to watch Ray follow. “Sorry about earlier, it was sweet of you to help your girlfriend out like that. I didn’t really mean to make fun of you.”

“It’s fine.” David says, waving a hand and following Alexis with his eyes as he waits for his turn. He knows he is inevitably going to embarrass himself on this section, so it’s probably pointless, but he feels the need to correct the guy anyway. “But she’s not my girlfriend, she’s my friend, and that’s my sister.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“You can stop apologising now.” David says with a smile, turning back to face him and watching as Ray struggles along the other obstacle at a snail’s pace. “I should go, maybe I’ll catch up with you later. Or the other way around I guess.”

The guy laughs and shakes his head, “I sure hope so.”

David smirks and turns to climb up the ropes, which he does with some difficulty but adamantly ignores the attention that the guy, and Stevie and Alexis are giving him. He reaches the platform in record time and his stomach immediately sinks as he looks down.

“Are you alright, David? You’ve gone all pale.” Stevie asks as he wobbles on the new platform next to her.

He hums the affirmative and nods but closes his eyes for a moment in an attempt to stop his head from spinning.

Below him, he can see Ray has reached the podium and the guy- Patrick he thinks he was called, moves to start on the rope ladder.

“I’m going to have to tap out here, Patrick!” Ray exclaims, panting heavily and reaching out a supportive hand onto the tree. “But you should keep going! You’re young and these tickets were not inexpensive.”

“Are you sure, Ray? I thought this was meant to be a team bonding session?”

“No, no! You go ahead, I think I may have over-exerted myself on the pulleey system. I would like to see how far you can get, but I am also hankering for one of those ice creams we saw on the way in. I’ll meet you on the ground!”

With this, Ray clips himself to the emergency ladder which reaches down to the floor and starts descending. Patrick looks up at the ropes, determination written on his face, and starts climbing.

“Ooh, maybe we should ask Ray’s friend to join us.” Alexis exclaims as she follows David’s gaze down. He looks up to see Stevie has already started the next obstacle and is currently clambering along several handing logs in mid-air.

“Why? I thought it was for ‘young boss women’?”

“Well he is here with Ray, so I bet he’s probably working for Ray. I think that makes him a boss woman.” Alexis says simply. “Hey, hey you!” She shouts, and Patrick looks up from where he is halfway up the ropes.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to join our group for the rest of the course?” She asks.

Patrick takes a couple of minutes to reply, struggling with the last part of the obstacle, and David reflexively reaches down a hand to help pull him up onto the platform next to them.

Once he’s situated and upright, he nods, breathing heavily. “Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.”

“Don’t be silly, you can’t do the rest all on your own like some kind of pervert!” Alexis says, slapping his arm flirtatiously and batting her eyelashes.

He doesn’t really respond to Alexis’ physicality, which makes David smirk, but he accepts her offer easily. “Sure, I’d like that. If you really don’t mind?”

“Hey, is someone gonna come up and join me or am I just gonna have to do the rest of this on my own?” Stevie shouts from her platform across the way.

“Oops, sorry, gotta climb.” Alexis says cheerfully, bopping Patrick and then David on the nose with a wink before turning to start the obstacle.

“I’m sorry about my sister.” David says quietly as he watches her climb, his arms crossed protectively over his chest. “You don’t have to join us; you’re probably fast enough that you could take over and go ahead in front of us.”

“It’s okay, it was nice of her to offer. Besides, I think I’d rather be doing this with you than with Ray.”

“Mm, that’s not really as big a compliment as you think it is. How do you know Ray anyway?”

David startles slightly when their shoulders bump as Patrick stabilises himself next to him. “Um, he’s my boss, I guess. He’s also my landlord, and my roommate.”

“Wow.” David drags out, looking at him sympathetically. “That’s rough.”

“It’s not so bad.” He replies, but he’s smiling, “He offered me a place to stay and a job, and he’s been really good to me since I got here, so- I would rather he wasn’t my only friend in town, but you can only ask for so much I suppose.”

“So, you’re new to Schitt’s Creek, then?”

“Mhm, just moved here last month. I was looking for a change of scenery.”

“I don’t know why you would come here of all places for that, but each to their own.”

They watch as Alexis finally reaches the other platform and forces Stevie to high-five her. David makes a distressed face as he clips himself onto the security wire and reaches out a hand to hold the wooden log suspended in front of him. He immediately wobbles precariously and makes an embarrassing noise as he clings to it. He’s still in reach of the old platform, and Patrick reaches out a hand to steady him.

“I think it might be easier if you don’t lean so much.” He says softly, pushing David’s back so that he is more upright. “Try to balance your weight before you move.”

“Easy for you to say.” David replies, rudely, “Your feet are both nice and steady on the platform still!”

He thinks Patrick might retreat at that tone, but he just chuckles and tips his head slightly. “Fair point.”

David makes it about half-way under his own steam, but then he has to step onto a new log, and the ground suddenly does that thing from films where it looks like it’s moving further away. He wobbles again, and ends up half crouched in the air, his ass sticking out comedically as he clings to the top log again.

“Come on, David!” Alexis shouts, “If you keep moving it won’t move around as much!”

“That’s not fair! You barely weigh more than a bag of flour!” He yells back, growing more and more agitated as the log suddenly jerks wildly below him. He closes his eyes tight as if that will help and tries to slow down his breaths.

“Hey,” Patrick whispers, and when did he get so close? David peeks through his eyelashes to see the other man has joined him on the obstacle and is holding the next step steady for David to keep going. “Just move slowly, I’ve got you.” He says, his arms reaching around David’s back to trap him onto the logs.

David makes a pathetic whining noise as he is moved along the log and leans back against the safety of Patrick’s body. He is firm and steady around David, and he allows himself the momentary distraction of Patrick’s arms around his waist.

He reaches the second log, and precariously makes his way along it to finally get pulled up onto the platform by Alexis who is smiling and Stevie, who is looking at him with sly eyes.

“Oh my God, David. I totally thought you were going to freak out just then.” Alexis says. “I completely forgot that you were so frightened by heights.”

“Okay, I’m not afraid of heights. I just don’t particularly find enjoyment in dangling like twenty feet off the ground.”

“I think it’s more like thirty feet, actually.” Stevie says.

Patrick holds a hand on David’s lower back as he joins them on the platform.

“Hey, you did really well there.” He says quietly over David’s shoulder.

“Yeah, well. Thank you for that. I didn’t mean to freak out.”

“Are you good to carry on? I promise I won’t let you get stuck.”

David nods, smiling slightly as his sister and Stevie watch on, with matching grins on their faces. “I’m good to carry on.”

They make it through the next few obstacles in much of the same fashion; Stevie and Alexis focus on their own conversation, helping each other along, and David is supported by Patrick, both physically and emotionally, leading to them speeding up their process along the course.

When they get to the end, they find themselves at a zip-line. It has a sign next to it with an outline of how to do it, and Alexis claps happily.

“Ooh, look!” She exclaims, nudging Stevie, “You can do it as a couple if you want. We just have to clip our harnesses together.”

Stevie looks hesitant but nods slowly when Alexis pulls a face at her. They clip their harnesses together and set off down the line, landing on a heap on the floor, both cackling as they struggle to stand up and un-hook themselves.

David looks down at the line nervously, his heart rate already increasing.

“David?” Patrick asks from where they are stood next to each other on the platform. “Do you want to go down together? I mean- I don’t. It’s quite intimate so I don’t mind if you don’t want to, but- If it would make you more comfortable, then--”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” David asks tentatively, resolutely looking at Patrick to distract himself from the terrifying fall he is no doubt going to take in just a moment.

Patrick just shakes his head easily, and clips himself to the back of David’s harness, connecting them together securely. He tugs on their connecting tie, pulling their hips firmer against each other so the swell of David’s ass is firm against Patrick’s crotch.

“Hold on tight.” He mutters into David’s ear, and pushes them off the platform and down the zip line. It’s terrifying at first, and then exhilarating, as they speed through the air together in a smooth downwards trajectory, the sound of the wheels on the metal zinging in their ears. One of Patrick’s arms is tight around his waist and the other holds onto the handle of their harness to keep them heading straight.

They hit the floor with a bump, Patrick lying against David’s back. He can feel his chest heaving as they laugh, and he unclips himself from David to kneel up off him, offering him a hand to pull him off the ground.

“I think that went pretty well.” Patrick says, but David is distracted by their hand still clasped together.

“Thanks to you.” David says, wiping his legs down to clear the dirt.

“I don’t know, it was still pretty fun for me.”

David grins awkwardly at him. He’s distracted by his sister running over and throwing her arms around him. He returns the hug lightly and rolls his eyes as she clings to him.

“David! You did so good!” She exclaims. “You’re officially a boss woman!”

“Is that really a compliment though?” He asks in his high-pitched sarcastic voice.

“Can we hurry this up? I’m starving.” Stevie says from a couple of steps away.

“Patrick! You should so come join us!” Alexis says, poking him on the arm. He looks pleased, but his smile drops as he looks past the group to see Ray waving at him.

“Ah- I’d love to, but I can’t. I should probably go and join Ray.”

Alexis pouts, her hands out in dinosaur claws in front of her, and David can’t help but echo her reaction in his head, sad not to get any more time with the other man.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, anyway.” Stevie says, already pulling at the Rose’s arms, and leading them back to the safety hut to get their kit removed.

“Nice to meet you too.” Patrick says, watching them in interest. “Goodbye, David.”

David looks back over his shoulder as he’s dragged away. “Bye, Patrick.”

They get their harnesses off and head out to the carpark. Stevie is rushing, her stomach apparently hungering for a burger from somewhere that isn’t the café, and even Alexis is excited to get somewhere and sit down.

As they head that way, they pass Patrick who is heading into the hut to get his harness removed. Suddenly, David is caught by an urge to do something really rash.

“I’ll be back in one minute.” He says to the others. Stevie frowns at him moodily and opens her mouth to disagree, but Alexis cheers him on.

“Oh my God, yes, David!” She says, pushing him to follow Patrick as she heads in the other direction around the back of the wooden building, “Yes, go!”

He smiles slightly at her retreating figure as he breaks into an awkward jog. The hut is empty when he enters it except for Patrick who is stood by the desk looking around for an employee.

“Hi, I was just- Oh, David.” Patrick says as he turns around in response to his presence. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just going to go. But then, I thought maybe--”

Patrick frowns, looking curious. “Maybe what?”

“Maybe you- Maybe we could, at some point--” He fumbles for words and closes his eyes uncomfortably. “You know what, forget it. It was nice to meet you, Patrick.”

He turns to leave, criticising himself for his lack of bravery, but Patrick stops him.

“I’d like to as well, at some point.”

The complete nonsense of that sentence causes David to spin around on his heel slowly and look at the other man. He is stood tensely, as if afraid of rejection, and looks pale as he frowns to himself.

“Yeah?”

Patrick nods, as if unable to form the words for himself. David moves his eyes around as if to chase his thoughts down, and takes a small step towards Patrick, who breathes in a relieved way, and returns the gesture so they are stood close together.

David reaches out a hand to grab onto the front strap of the harness and tugs it lightly, causing Patrick to stumble towards him. He uses this momentum to pull their bodies together and presses their mouths together.

Patrick responds immediately, both hands cupping David’s face and leaning into the kiss with unexpected enthusiasm. He moans in an indecent way as David skims his bottom lip with his tongue, and his jaw drops open to encourage the intrusion.

“Do you really have to go back to work?” He can hear Alexis’ voice travelling from the back door leading to the office. “Can’t you take like a little longer break? I’m sure there’s nobody waiting.”

“I’m not meant to leave the desk.” The guy from earlier replies.

Patrick and David jump apart just as the employee enters the room. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), David’s hand is still tucked tightly between the harness and Patrick’s chest, keeping them from going very far.

“Oh--”

“I was just trying to help him with his harness.” David says quickly.

“Yeah, helping with the harness.” Patrick confirms, nodding manically.

“I should just--” he pulls his hand out and takes a step back, smiling at Patrick as he does so. “We were just going. You need to get the- thing off. And get back to Ray, so--”

“I’ll give you a hand with that.” The worker says, crossing around the desk and getting to work on the clasps and buckles around Patrick’s chest and legs. David momentarily feels a spike of possessiveness about it before he forces himself to calm down.

“Um, so we should be going.” David says, pointing his thumbs at Alexis and backing towards the door. “But um--”

“Wait--”

Patrick finally steps out of the legs of the contraption and approaches David, holding his arm lightly to stop him from leaving.

“Um--” He looks at Alexis who is watching them with interest, clearly not caring about making them uncomfortable. “Can I get your number, maybe?”

“Oh,” David breathes, grinning, “I--”

“I promise I won’t take you tree climbing on our first date.” Patrick says quickly, clearly flustered by the whole situation and still red in the face from the kiss.

“I wouldn’t mind. I don’t- I don’t mind what you want to do for the date. I’m up for anything you want to do.” David says. Alexis is slapping him on the arm, and he turns to tell her to fuck off, but sees that she is holding out a felt-pen for him from the desk.

He takes it and puts the cap between his teeth as he holds Patrick’s forearm up gently. He writes his number on the inside of his arm, blowing on it lightly before letting go.

“There you go.” He whispers, smiling up at Patrick who is looking at his arm in awe, and holding it carefully away from his body as if afraid to smudge the digits.

“Thank you, David.”

Finally, with one last meaningful look, Alexis and David head back out of the hut and towards the increasingly angered Stevie who is stalking up and down by the car.

“What took you so long?” She asks. “How long does it take to get a guy’s number?”

Alexis giggles and David just rolls his eyes. As they are pulling away, his phone buzzes with a message from an unknown number.

_Hi David, it's Patrick. Are you free tomorrow night? I'd love to take you out._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you thought in the comments!


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